Curiosities of Olden Times: Now Available!

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Sabine Baring-Gould was one of the more notable compilers of folklore and history in his century. This particular edition is one of the greater ones; the lore comes from many cultures and time periods, and was chosen specifically because it was curious or odd. So we have tales here of saints which were insane paired with cryptography, and folklore regarding women resides in the same work as a collection of stories of animals being criminally prosecuted. Much of the content is humorous, all of it is interesting.

This edition has been illustrated by Raven Feather Illustrations.

235 pages.

Cistercian Legends of the 13th Century: Now Available!

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The Cistercian order is one of great importance within the history of Catholicism. Their focus on hard work tended to uplift adjacent communities more than similarly constructed groups. The Cistercians, it seems, also had a very early hearty sense of humor (by the standards of the 13th century!) for some of their legends and tales involve tricking Satan, upstanding bishops and priests, and generally demonstrate their ascetic piety and charity.

This book relates a large number of tales, ranging from the humorous to the serious, and from the believable to the outright bizarre.

174 pages.

Erroneous Occultism: Now Available!

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This little work was designed as a cautionary and basic introductory manuscript to warn would-be occultists about some of the pitfalls of researching magic, religion, mysticism, and allied topics. It covers charlatans (at large), fortune telling, spiritism, astrology, superstitions good and bad, folklore and its importance, and many similar subtopics. I like to imagine it is more rigorous than many comparable works, which tend towards either the strictly incredulous or the strictly skeptical.

34 pages.

Jewish Folk-Lore of the Middle Ages: Now Available!

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This short text is a twofold effort; first, a few examples of actual Jewish folklore dating to the Middle Ages, and second, some various analysis of the subject itself and the same related tales, from an anthropological viewpoint. It should be noted that claims of King Arthur being a Jewish tale appear to be related to the upsurging Judaist class consciousness of the late 19th century.

34 pages.

Fishes of Fancy: Now Available!

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This little text is a fine collection of marine and aquatic folklore and mythology- from the returning of Solomons' magic ring by a fish, to dietary restrictions in religion, to some superstition among fishermen and sailors. It is topped off by a rather odd short story in which a group of ocean creatures stage a marine exhibition, apparently a mild mockery of British oceanic science in the age. The work has been illustrated by Raven Feather Illustrations.

92 pages.

Indian Masonry: Now Available!

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Wright's interesting volume, here, is a discussion of the similarity between the Freemasons and certain "native" tribes in the Americas- it compares ideology and spiritual systems more than it does any physical rituals, although it does contain a lengthy section on the initiation stages gone through on the way to becoming a medicine man. A large number of mythological stories are related here, so it's a decent work on the figures and folklore of such tribes as well.

110 pages.

The Book of Witches: Now Available!

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The Book of Witches is a lengthy piece of historical study on the topic of witches, witchcraft, persecution, and superstition. Indeed, it is probably the best single text I have read on the subject, covering a vast period of time over the course of many cultures, from ancient Assyria and Egypt through the Middle Ages, the burning times, and the then-modern dawn of the 20th century. It contains a large amount of primary material from Weirus, Scott, and others, as well as verbatim material from papal bulls, witchcraft trials, and ancient sources ranging from philosophical to legal.

232 pages.

English Fairy Tales: Now Available!

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This nice volume is a compilation of fairy tales from England (as its title suggests) but it also contains a lengthy and helpful dissertation on the etymology of the fairy, its linguistic origins in Italian antiquity, and its similarity to the genii, the lamia, and the nymph. It is partly anthropological, therefore, and contains a number of allusions especially to Reginald Scott's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" in which the European adaptation of such folklore is noted to have affected adults, not just children, and that such superstitions as "Robin Goodfellow" and fellow beings was rife for centuries.

171 pages.

American Indian Freemasonry: Now Available!

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This little booklet is an interesting look at some of the ritual and behavioral overlap between Freemasonry and certain "Native" American groups. In a very telling postscript, it essentially admits that its purpose was to impress local lodges at large to solicit donations for a museum for their artifact collection- a very compelling bit of history, not only for its folkloric content, but as a sign of the outgrowth of the Masons in the first half of the 20th century and interest in historical study.

36 pages.

Contentions With God, A Study in Jewish Folklore: Now Available!

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This short booklet is filled with interesting Jewish folklore. Almost all of it involves Rabbinical councils condemning God for contradictions in Torah law, sometimes to the point of "suing" their deity on behalf of aggrieved plaintiffs (it isn't certain how they are reimbursed by the losing party!) A slightly humorous depiction of the Jewish god ensues, and on one occasion, even death itself is bested.

40 pages.

Beginnings, Glimpses of Vanished Civilizations: Now Available!

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This excellent work is a compilation of lore spanning many centuries and ranging from ancient Greek, to Roman, to Egyptian, to Vedic lore, all of which revolves around the concept of the origins of mankind. It touches on both science and history, with heavy allusions to Atlantis, and sometimes quoting Ignatius Donnelly.

76 pages.

Fairies: Now Available!

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This little work is a dense collection of folklore about fairies (although it does include some content referring to elves, brownies, and similar beings)- part of it relates to poetry, some to prose both ancient and then-modern. It is a quasi-romanticist effort, openly encouraging the promulgation of such folk material as an alternative to the cold, secular boredom of industrial living. It also seems to insinuate that such beings are real, albeit otherworldly.

35 pages.

Bantu Folk Lore: Now Available!

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This ethnographic work is a significant compilation of South African herbal and ritual lore, with profuse linguistic inclusions, combining the scientific names of species, and descriptions of types of doctors and practices, with the native speech involved. Less preachy than some contemporary studies, it actually compares the materia medica of the Bantu people with that of the European people.

77 pages.

An Essay on Demonology, Ghosts, and Apparitions: Now Available!

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This nice literary edition predominantly describes medical quackery, the persecutions of Salem (and attempts at the same from latter time periods well into the 18th century!) and some interesting supernatural tales involving those who believed themselves demonically troubled or bewitched. I decided to edit this particular work partly as a cautionary tale for occultists not to be too incredulous, and as an amusing look at times of persecution and charlatan medicine which roughly equate to the 2020s. The more things change the more they remain the same!

132 pages.

English Folklore: Now Available!

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This little work is a broad and truncated overview of a very large collection of folk tales and superstitions among the English peasantry- a field of study of the vulgar or common which was just beginning to be of public interest as the 20th century dawned. It is interesting to note several examples of older myths being adapted to then-contemporary events; tales of ghost lights were common for centuries and ended up twined in with the sinking of German U-boats and the remains of the dead washing up on the shore in the era of WWI, for example.

81 pages.

The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland: Now Available!

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This text is a fine compilation of folklore from Scotland- most of which involves cryptids and ghosts. A few other tales are compiled here, as well as rituals and superstitions related to marriage, courting, employment, and other such topics. It roughly traces the evolution of ghost stories from the early period with its technically tangible spirits, to the more modern period where ghouls and poltergeists became more "ghost-like" and could not be hacked apart with a claymore.

157 pages.

A World of Wonders: Now Available!

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This is an excellent book written under a pseudonym by Catharine Gore, a socialite best known for novels involving women being prim, proper, and exhibiting aristocratic tendencies. The folkloric and mythological content here is predominantly presented for the purposes of explaining why it is false and discredited- however my own interest was piqued even more by a few examples of "debunked" lore now being accepted upon further review; in the 1840s Central Africa was not really explored, for example, and tales of "dwarves" (pygmies) there "at the origin of the Nile" according to ancient records seemed to be mere legend; but we now know that such tribes do indeed exist!

More than fifty chapters here are dedicated to everything from spirits and lycanthropy, to astrology, alchemy, possession, and more.

241 pages.

In Ghostly Japan: Now Available!

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This is an excellent compilation of folk tales and proverbs and miscellany related to Japan, written by the famous Lafcadio Hearn at the tale end of the 19th century. It has the value of being not only academically intriguing but interesting in the sense of the tales it compiles; the tradition of floating lamps out to sea for the deceased, the use of incense as a parlor game, and bizarre, macabre stories of ghosts, vengeful spirits, and superstitions of many types. I highly recommend this particular text for its fantastic content.

144 pages.

Lucasta; Parables and Poems: Now Available!

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This nice collection of magic-related poems comes from none other than AE Waite of tarot deck fame, notable as well for compiling English fairy lore, and for his famous Book of Ceremonial Magic. Most of these poems are quite good, and I have attempted to retain their format entirely. A few typographical errors were corrected and that is the only meaningful change save for the foreword and cover art.

The topics vary somewhat but every one of the pieces of poetry here is related to fairies or magic in some manner, and it is clear that Waite took significant inspiration from traditional romantic-era English poems.

70 pages.

Symbolic Mythology: Now Available!

 

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The author of this present work is notable for stream of consciousness style digests containing highly compressed information on spiritual subjects. This particular book is perhaps most useful for those interested in details about the symbolism of animals as applied to Judaism, early Christianity, and also, of course, Norse and Greek/Roman pagan systems. It contains as well a section on the use of rings as a symbol which seems to have spawned a full length title by the same author.

156 pages.